Friday, November 27, 2015

Roger Tellier of North Kingstown with a 26” cod fish
he caught in the Seal Ledge area off Newport when tautog fishing Saturday.

Squeteague (or weakfish) caught by Mike Kwok from
Palisades Park, NY while fishing the Frances Fleet. Squeteague, once a popular fish in RI, is
coming back with more and more caught in recent years.

Fishing
laws need to reflect climate change

Climate change continues to warm local
waters with mounting proof that it is changing our fishing environment. Fishing is changing so much that warm water
fish are moving into the northeast and cold water fish are moving to deeper cooler
water.

If the environment is changing then our
fishing laws, which all stem from the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) need to be
updated to reflect these changes too.
Our fishing laws are based on historical fishing and survey data (what
fish were caught where) and what was true in the past may not necessarily be true
today or tomorrow.

Climate
change can have a positive, negative or neutral effect on species with
different tolerances in any given geographic area. Over time we have seen in influx of warm
water fish hear in our region, some of the changes have been good for fishing
and some not so good.

In
Rhode Island, more cobia (an exotic warm water fish) have been caught than ever
before, enhanced summer flounder and black sea bass have moved into southern
New England but yet we have seen a decline in cold water fish like cod.

Dr.
Jonathan Hare, director of the National Oceanographic & Atmospheric
Administration’s (NOAA) Narragansett Laboratory, has long spoke about climate
change and its impact on marine fisheries.
Dr. Hare said that along the northeast continental shelf, “Since 1854
ocean temperatures have risen 1.3 to 2 degrees Fahrenheit.”

Dr.
Hare has shared a time lapse illustration that showed how yellow-tail flounder
and summer flounder (fluke) are actually migrating north toward Rhode Island
and other northern coastal states as the water warms. This time lapse illustration uses catch and
effort data supplied to NOAA by commercial fishermen as a condition of their
license. The data and time lapse
illustration showed fish leaving waters to the south and moving northward. Dr. Hare’s work provides proof of warming
water and species movement in and out of our region.

In a recent article written by Ted Morgan of the PEW Charitable
Trust, Morgan said, “Fish managers often develop fishing rules expecting
that the same species will be found in roughly the same place every year.
Setting catch limits for fishing requires some assumptions—and until recently,
one of them has been that the vast ocean, while subject to cycles, is basically
stable over time. But new information challenges that notion, as scientists and
some policymakers have grown increasingly aware of long-term shifts in the
ocean environment.”

Dr. Malin Pinsky of Rutgers University
is a pioneer in using historical fishing trawl survey data collected by NOAA for
years and looking at it differently. The
data includes the fish caught in the trawl as well as latitudes, longitudes and
the depths of each trawl. Once the
historical fishing survey data base was built Dr. Pinsky and his team were able
to pinpoint where fish populations were found—and if those locations changed
over time. His work has been developed into an interactive application; it clearly
shows movement of a variety of species in our region and can be found at http://oceanadapt.rutgers.edu/.

How can
fishing laws change to reflect climate change?

We can do a lot to make sure our
fishing laws and regulations reflect climate change. Our nation through NOAA is
divided into seven regional fishery councils, in our area it is the New England
Fishery Management Council. Ted Morton
of PEW said, “Unfortunately, not all of the nation’s councils are having these
important conversations (about climate change and fish movement) as they make
decisions, because the law does not require them to practice this kind of
modern management.

“When Congress next changes the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, lawmakers should call for each council to create fishery ecosystem
plans—road maps that can help managers understand the environmental factors
that influence their fisheries so they can account for them and make more
informed decisions.” said Morton.

The Magnuson-Stevens Act is 40 years
old and has been updated several times. It is now time for another update.

Striped bass
fishing on Block Island

Capt. John Sheriff of Captain Sheriff’s Fishing Charters,
LLC will give a RI Saltwater Anglers Association presentation on tips and
techniques for catching striped bass with a focus on Block Island on Monday,
November 30, 7:00 p.m. at the West Valley Inn, West Warwick. Non-members welcome with a $10 donation to
the RISAA Scholarship Fund, RISAA members attend free. Dinner offered by the
West Valley Inn between 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Visit www.risaa.org
for information.

Where’s the bite

Tautog fishing continues to be
strong. Stormy weather and dirty water
did slow the number of angler trips last week but the water settled and anglers
were out the fishing was good. Capt.
Charlie Donilon of Snappa Charters said, “Black fish off
Newport has been very good with our largest fish averaging 7 or 8 points and
last week during the big blow we managed to fish off Narragansett with angels
limiting out.” Ken Ferrara of Ray’s Bait
& Tackle, Warwick said, “Things are slowing down in the Bay with a tautog
bite weakening. Customers that went
south this weekend to Beavertail and the Kettlebottom area off Jamestown as well
as off Newport did pretty good catching tautog and a cod every now and
then. I fished with Roger Tellier,
secretary of the RISAA board of directors this weekend and he caught a 26” cod
while fishing for tautog in the Seal Ledge are off Newport. Angler Chris Jalbert from South County
said “Went Monday morning (last week). Most finicky/delicate
bite of the season so far. I missed a TON of fish. We got our limit in 3-4
hours. Most fish 4-6#. Also got one of the biggest of our season - 10 plus pounds." "The tautog bite seems to be best in 80 feet of wae" “The tautog bite seems to be
best in 70 to 80 feet of water with anglers till catching in lower water too. Fishing the edge of the Pinnacle off Narragansett at 70 feet, off Brenton Reef on the edges and areas at the mouth of the Sakonnet has been good." said Matt Conti of Snug Harbor Marian, South Kingstown. South Kingstown. Capt. Frank Blount, of the Frances
Fleet, said, “Tautog fishing continued to be good even after a couple days off
due to heavy southerly winds. Pool fish generally in the 8 to 11 pound
range with many limit catches recorded. Tremendous amounts of short tog
provided long lasting action in between the keepers. The sea bass have
definitely become fewer but there has been a slight increase in the number of
keeper cod fish being caught and more of them are gaff-worthy. In fact on a
couple trips cod fish in the low teens took the pool honors of tautog trips.”

Cod fishing remained very strong, even in some areas close to shore this past
week. Capt. Charlie Donilon of Snappa
Charters said, “Last week we did very well with cod and sea bass south of Pt.
Judith and southeast of Block Island. We caught 31 keeper cod, the best in
years. We dropped anchor and it was like
the way it used to be. We limited out on
black sea bass too with 42 fish. It was
definitely like the days of old. In
fact, we had to just stop fishing. The
largest cod were 10 and 11 pounds cod and 6 pound black sea bass.” Matt Conti of Snug Harbor Marina said, “Cod
fishing has been good with angler’s dong well at the East Fishing Grounds,
Cox’s Ledge and at Shark Ledge.”

Striped bass fishing has taken a back seat to tautog and cod fishing, however,
anglers are catching migrating fish.
“Schools of herring were off the southern coastal shore this week with
garnets diving on them so I’m sure some are picking up bass feeding on the
herring .” sad Matt Conti of Snug Harbor Marine.

How fish stock assessments and
quotas are used to regulate recreational and commercial fishing is often mind boggling. The science and data that is used in assessments
to determine desired stock biomass (the fish in the water) is complex, current
and historical fishing activity is robust, and quotas that aim to achieve
rebuilt and sustainable fish stocks are all taken into consideration to make
regulations.

Combine this with the variety of
fishermen user groups vying for the same limited resource and you have a very
complex equation.

Recently two meetings occurred that
can give us some insight into what commercial and recreational regulations
might be for 2016.

The first is the Atlantic States
Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) annual meeting held in early November. The ASMFC regulates migratory species along
the east coast including many of the species targeted by recreational and
commercial fishermen in Rhode Island.

The second meeting was held Monday,
November 16 at the URI Bay Campus. It
was a Department of Environmental Management (DEM) Marine Fisheries Division’s
workshop and public hearing on proposed regulation options for the commercial fishing
of summer flounder (fluke), bluefish, scup and black sea bass. Similar meetings
will be held to gather input from recreational fishermen in a couple of months.

Here are meeting highlights and
what impact they could have on 2016 fishing.

A recent tautog assessment has shown that we may be overfishing the
species; however, the assessment will not be reviewed until the August 2016 ASMFC
tautog board meeting so more conservative regulations will not be put in place
by the ASMFC for 2016. The tautog board
tasked its Plan Development Team with the development of a draft Amendment
focusing on two regional management options along with a status quo option that
would treat Virginia to Massachusetts as one coastal coast wide region. The
other two options being considered group Massachusetts and Rhode Island together.

A black sea bass stock assessment is underway; however it will not
be completed until the end of 2016 for potential use in 2017 the earliest. However,
in 2015 the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and
Statistical Committee developed a way to set quota for data poor stocks, our
quota for 2016 has increased slightly. The 2016 commercial quotas were
increased by 20% (by 59,317 pounds). This
is good news as the commercial fishery experienced multiple closures in 2015.
DEM proposed a status quo option based on a daily possession limit and a second
weekly aggregate model with a variety of sub-periods. A third option proposed by Town Dock of
Narragansett aimed to avoid season closures by putting a 25 pound/vessel/day
limit into play, and if closure had to occur the fishery would close just one
day a week, Friday, so that fish could be caught Saturday and be available on
Sunday the busiest market day.

The Recreational Harvest Limit
(RHL) has been set at 2.88 million pounds for 2016 in RI. This is good news for recreational fisherman
as this year the RHL was set at 2.33 million pounds so we should see some
liberalization of BSB regulations.

A scup benchmark study was done in 2015.The scup stock is not overfished and
overfishing in not occurring relative to biological reference points. However,
a 4% reduction in commercial quota is recommended.The Marine Fisheries Division recommends a
status quota regulation for commercial fishing in 2016 with three sub-periods
and a 9” commercial minimum size just as we had last year.No new proposals were brought fourth at the
workshop. Recreational fishing regulations for scup will likely be status quo
or a bit more conservation as well.

A bluefish stock estimate was done in 2015. Bluefish are not overfished and overfishing
is not occurring relative to the biological reference points, however, the
estimated biomass is below the biomass target.
A 10% reduction in commercial quota has been established for 2016 which
is a decrease of 35,682 pounds. Commercial
recommendations made at DEM’s meeting include a status quo option which
features two sub-periods splitting the year in half with 50% allocated in each
six month period as well as a second option with an aggregate possession limit
of 3,500 pounds/vessel/week. A third
option was presented at the public workshop and hearing that included an 18”
minimum size and split the year into three periods with 500 pounds/vessel/week in
the shoulder periods, 1/1 to 4/30 and 11/16 to 12/31, and a 4,000 pounds/vessel/week
primary season running from 5/1 to 11/15.

Summer flounder (fluke) is not overfished, however, overfishing is
occurring. No 2015 commercial fishery
closures. The commercial quota for 2015
was 1,719,629 and in 2016 it is 1,274,091 a decrease of 445,538 pounds which is
a 30% decrease. At the meeting a new
option was proposed by Town Dock of Narragansett which aims to leave the season
open (like the black sea bass recommendation). Other options included a status
quo option and one that reduced season starting possession limits to meet the
30% decrease.

More conservative regulations are
likely for recreational fishermen, as in the past reduced bag limits, shorter
seasons and perhaps a higher minimum size will be explored.

Striped bass regulations for are likely to
be the similar in 2016 as the ASMFC striped bass board asked their Technical
Committee to conduct a stock assessment update in 2016 utilizing catch and
index data through 2015. In a meeting
report the board said, “It is anticipated that no additional management will
occur until completion of the 2016 assessment update, which is anticipated for
next fall. “

Regulation options with public
input are also vetted by the Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Council (RIMFC) that
makes fishing regulation recommendations to DEM director Janet Coit. The
director then makes final regulation decisions.

Stock status, meeting
presentations, options proposed and full annotated regulations on above
commercial regulations can be found at www.dem.ri.gov; the public comment period on the
above commercial options is open and will end at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday,
November 26.

Where’s the bite

Tautog fishing continues to be robust with many anglers able to
reach their limit all along the coastal shore.
Rock piles and structured bottom off Narragansett, Scarborough
Beach, Pt. Judith and all along the
southern coastal shore have been good with rock piles from Newport to the
Sakonnet River bearing fruit too. Mike
Wade of Watch Hill Outfitters, Westerly said, “The tautog season has been great
with customers catching fish in the 10 to 15 pound range fairly regularly. We
haven’t started to fish the deeper water and our outer reefs yet.” Mike Kwok of
Palisades Park, NJ landed a 14.8 pound tautog while fishing the Frances
Fleet. Capt. Frank Blount said, “Fishing remained strong with
many angler limits recorded and many others who came close.” John Littlefield of
Archie’s Bait & Tackle, Riverside said, “Anglers were doing well from shore
at the Wharf Tavern, the Warren Bridge and Colt State Park, however this
weekend the bite was off.” Capt. Charlie Donilon of
Snappa Charters fished this weekend with good results, “Due to the strong
winds we experienced Saturday, we fished one mile east of Narragansett town
beach. Results couldn’t have been better. Both groups just missed
filling the quota of six fish/per angler by only a few fish. Largest fish
were between six and seven pounds. Earlier in the week we fished three miles
south of Newport with very good results. The largest fish caught in the
deeper water was around ten pounds.” Ken Ferrara of Ray’s Bait &
Tackle Warwick said, “Tautog fishing is still very strong.” Early last week
Capt. Rene Letourneau of On the Rocks Charters said, “Still plenty of tautog in
the Bay. Fishing this week with great weather, the tog bite has been consistent
along Jamestown. We had a solid bite in Newport also.”

Cod fishing has been good. Capt. Frank Blount said, “A few bigger cod found their
way aboard the Gail Frances on Sunday with a half dozen fish in the teens with
two of them close to 20 pounds A decent amount of customers had two to four cod
apiece to take home. Still all in all signs are encouraging and cod fish are
being found on just about every rock pile sampled.” Ken Ferrara of Ray’s Bait & Tackle said,
“I had four customers catch cod from 22” to 31”, some in the Bay while tautog
fishing at General Rock, North Kingstown and two off Newport.”

Striped bass. “Customers fishing from
shore at Fire District Beach have caught fish to 37” mixed in with school bass”
said Mike Wade of Watch Hill Outfitters.

“Squid fishing is still very good off
Newport and off Jamestown with Ft. Wetherill experience a particularly good
bite.” said Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle, Providence.

“Fresh water
fishing has
been good with a strong largemouth bass bite particularly at Lincoln Woods and
Stump Pond.” said Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle

Alex Appolonia of North Kingstown (a
senior at Bishop Hendricken High School) with tautog caught while fishing with
his father Eric on No Fluke Charters off Newport.

Tim Gilchrist with a 36” striper he
caught near shore at east beach Quonnie.Tim said, “A lot of school bass were mixed in. Most successful lure was
a white 4” Storm Shad fished slowly.”

Giant bluefish (14.17 pounds and
33”) caught by Gil Bell of Charlestown, RI at a Washington County Beach last
week.

The fishing is hot… on the water and
on your plate

Tautog
fishing this past week was hot. Arguably
the best it has been in years. And so was fresh Rhode Island seafood on plates in
Newport and around the state.

This
week, Newport Restaurant Week partnered with Rhode Island Seafood, a
collaborative formed by the RI Department of Environmental Management (DEM) to
support local fishermen.

The
aim of the collaborative is to increase awareness and consumption of locally
fished species. The RI Seafood seal, which is appearing on Newport Restaurant
Week participant’s menus, guarantees that a menu item’s seafood was landed
right here in Rhode Island waters.

The
RI Seafood Seal Initiative is actually a state- wide effort available on fish throughout
the state as long as the processor landing the fish has applied to participate
in the program and has been approved to use the seal because they guarantee
that the fish has been landed in Rhode Island.

Once
approved, customers of processors landing the fish all along the supply change
can use the RI Seafood seal such as distributers, fish markets, supermarkets
and restaurants.

Recreational fishermen who
eat their catch, know that locally caught seafood is fresher, in that the time
from ocean to dinner plate is less. Of
course, locally caught seafood doesn’t guarantee freshness. We still have to be advocates at the market
and in restaurants and ask if the seafood was landed in RI, does it have the RI
Seafood Seal and how old is the fish.

And remember, in a fish market
it is OK to ask to smell the fish. Fish
the smells fishy won’t necessary harm you, however, it does mean that bacteria
has set in and implies that the fish is older.

The RI Seafood Seal is a good
step to help insure consumers that the seafood they buy and eat is landed here
in Rhode Island and supports local fishermen.

Reel
Recovery to be featured charity at Rhody Fly Rodders

The Rhody Fly Rodders will feature
their charity of choice ‘Reel Recovery’ at their annual fly tying for charity meeting
Tuesday, November 17th, 6:30 p.m. at the Riverside Sportsmen Association, East Providence, RI.

‘Reel Recovery’, the
beneficiary of this year’s annual fly tying event is a national organization
that offers a retreat for men recovering from cancer. Experienced tyers will take the lead and
instruct meeting participants on how to tie their favorite patterns.

The flies will be collected and
then sold at fishing shows and meetings, with all proceeds donated to
‘Reel Recovery’.

“Simply put, my book
‘Tag is in the Fish’ is about both
traditional and electronic fish tagging along with some information about my
personal tagging of both bluefin and stripers.” said Capt. Al Anderson about
his new book now at the publishers.
Capt. Anderson who had been a charter captain out of Pt. Judith operated
the charter fishing vessel the Prowler
for many years.

The book talks about the tagging efforts of various agencies
including The Billfish Foundation, The Cooperative Game Fish Tagging Program of
NMFS, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Cooperative Tagging Program, and the
American Littoral Society.

Information on how to purchase the book will be released
shortly.

Where’s the bite

Squid fishing has been very good with reports of anglers catching squid in
Newport, Jamestown and in Narragansett.
Angler Greg Vespe of Tiverton said, “Squid fishing has
been outstanding in the lower bay. I even got a triple header
the other day, my first ever. Most nights between 10 and 40
pounds. I hope it will hold until the temperature start to get down
towards 50 degrees.” Dave Henault of
Ocean State Tackle, Providence said, “Squid fishing has been insane. Some anglers are catching them on striped
bass lures like pencil poppers. Squid
are everywhere.”

Tautog fishing remains
off the charts. It has been the best
tautog fishing in a few years with many anglers catching their limit on the
southern coastal shore, off Jamestown and Newport. Some nice fish have been taken in Narraganset
Bay at favorite spots such as Hope Island, General Rock, the Providence River
and in the Warren River. Angler Eric
Appolonia and I fished off Newport last week and hooked up with nine nice
keepers to 24” in a matter of two hours. Fish were caught on an egg sinker rig
designed with a single hook below the sinker on a swivel. The bite off Newport was strong Sunday as
well, fishermen on board my boat reached
their limit, with two to three shorts to every keeper. Dave Henault of Ocean
State Tackle said, “Fishing at Coddington Cover Sunday was difficult. Anglers
caught most short fish there.” Chris Jalbert of Westerly and fishing partner
Dan Simas of Bristol easily caught eight keepers last week said, “Fish were caught on a simple rig of surgeon's loop with sinker
(2-3oz) and a dropper loop 3-4" above the loop with a green crab on a 5/0
octopus hook. Whole and cut crabs worked equally as well. We were fishing south
shore of RI in 25-30' water. It's been a very good couple weeks of fishing once
water got below 60 degrees.” Phil
Mattson of Breachway Bait & Tackle said, “Tautog fishing off the
Charlestown reefs has been great as well as off Pt. Judith. Anglers are catching fish in 20 to 40 feet of
water.” John Littlefield of Archie’s
Bait & Tackle, Riverside, said customer Albert Bettencourt and fishing
partners caught about eighty fish to get to their limit of ten keepers. They
fished the Rose Island Newport area. Other areas where anglers are doing well
from shore include the old Jamestown Bridge, the Wharf Tavern and Colt State
Park areas.” Capt. Frank Blount of the Frances Fleet said, “Black fish action has been
remarkably consistent with most days seeing a third to one half of fishers
limiting out. Several fish in the 10-11 pound range this past week and a fair
amount of others 7-8 pound fish. Tremendous amounts of short tog as well. Only
a couple days saw any real quantity of sea bass mixed in, they do seem to be
thinning from the inshore grounds as water temps slowly cool. A handful of
keeper cod and some short cod along with a few red hake and even a couple
conger eels were recorded this past week.”

Striped bass and bluefish fishing from shore
all along the southern coastal shore have been very good. Phil Mattson from Breachway Bait said,
“Striped bass fishing from the beach in Charlestown as been very good with
school size bass as well as 15 to 25 pound fish. And, at night 30 to 40 pound fish are being
caught on ells at night. During the day
anglers are using Storm Shard, Bucktails and shallow water diving lures with
success.” Mattson said, “The blue fish
bite has been good too with some large fish in the 12 to 15 pound range being
weighed in this week.” Tim Gilchrist
said, “Lots of early morning stoolies almost on the shore at east beach Quonnie
with a few large fish in the 36” range mixed in. Most successful bias was a white 4” Storm
Shad fished slowly.” Angler Gil Bell of
Charlestown said he landed a giant bluefish (14.17 pounds and 33”) a Washington
County Beach last

Chris Konkol from North Kingstown RI with the brace of
nice cod to ten pounds he caught last on the Gail Frances party boat.

Anglers simply want to be outdoors

In a
recent angler survey by Southwick Associates of Fernandina Beach, when anglers
were asked to note the reasons they like to fish, 88 percent of survey
respondents cited "I like to spend time outdoors." It was the most
selected response.

The
desire to be outdoors was followed by "I like to spend time on or near the
water." which was noted by 84 percent. The challenge experienced when
fishing, selected by 80 percent of respondents even paled to simple
"fun," which was selected by 83 percent.

As I mentioned
last week in this fishing column, my personal feelings about fishing were
reflected by most other anglers. Fishing is seen as a social activity with 71%
citing spending time with friends and family as a key motivator. Only 50% cited
eating their catch as a primary reason to fish.

"Many
people love to spend their free time on the water with friends and
family," says Rob Southwick, president of Southwick Associates, which
designs and conducts the angler survey (as well as hunting and shooting surveys).
"Fishing offers a lot of recreational benefits, but one of the biggest is
the chance to simply get outside and enjoy nature. Angling is the preferred way
to achieve the overall outdoor experience."

Tautog fishing continues to improve with fish being taken in Narragansett
Bay and along the coastal shore. Neil
Hayes of Quaker Lane Outfitters, North Kingstown said, “Customers are catching
tautog at just about any rock pile. And
at places such as Whale Rock, Pt. Judith Light and Plum Point Lighthouse they
are catching fish.” I fished the Newport
area about ½ mile southeast of the Seal Ledge can Sunday for an hour after
returning from Block Island with no luck.
However, customers fishing closer to shore seem to have better luck
producing fish. “Dirty water this weekend
made tautog fishing challenging but customers still caught fish so this is a
very good sign” said Matt Conti of Snug Harbor Marina, South Kingstown. John
Littlefield of Archie's Bait & Tackle, Riverside, said, “Customers fishing
the Providence River at the Heart Club just north of the Hurricane Barrier said
they caught many short fish there but the Wharf Tavern in Warren produced two
keepers for them. Others are reporting a
good tautog bite in the Jamestown Bridge area.”
Capt. Frank
Blount of the Frances Fleet, said, “Tautog fishing continues to be very strong.
Fishing was outstanding last week with limits common place. We broke the ten
pound barrier with a fine tog of nearly 11 pounds and had two other fish in the
10 pound range. Varying numbers of sea bass mixed in but a few trips early in
the week saw some fishers have a limit of those to go along with their tog and
a few keeper cod.” “Tautog are still in low water as the temperature in
the Westerly area is still in the 60’s.
Once the water cools the fish will be moving to deeper water. We weighed in a couple of eight and nine
pound fish caught inside of Fishers Island that were in fairly low water. The tautog bite is going to do nothing but
improve so I am looking forward to fishing.” This Tuesday Dave Henault of Ocean
State Tackle called me from the water when fishing with Capt. Rene Letourneau
of On the Rocks Charters. Dave said, “We
have caught about forty fish and four keepers, the bite is very, very soft and
subtle.” They were fishing in 40 feet of water on a rock pile off Jamestown.

Black sea bass, cod and scup bite is still strong. “Anglers are
catching their black sea bass limit in waters along the southern coastal shore
where they normally catch summer flounder. However, they have moved to deeper
water” said Mike Wade of Watch Hill Outfitters.
I fished with angler Steve Brustein Sunday and we had little trouble
catching our limit at the southwest ledge on Block Island with scup in the 15”
range. Four party boats from New York
where fishing the southwest ledge hard for black sea bass and scup. Neil Hayes
of Quaker Lane said “The black sea bass and scup bite is good but it is
starting to slow.” “Cod fishing was good
this week both on the southeast and southwest corner of Cox’s Ledge. The good news is that anglers can keep sea
bass they catch in Federal waters so it makes traveling that distance
worthwhile.” said Matt Conti of Sung Harbor Marina. “This weekend customers
fished the Newport area for seabass and all three limited out with 28 fish to
four pounds.” said John Littlefield of Riverside.

Bluefish and striped bass. “A customer took a charter to catch
bluefish in Narragansett Bay and they caught six nice bluefish and one keeper
striped bass in the Ohio Ledge/Colt State Park area.” said John Littlefield of
Archie’s Bait & Tackle. “Customers are still catching striped bass and
bluefish from the beaches in Narragansett and from the breachways in South
County.” said Neil Hayes of Quaker Lane Outfitters. “Last week things slowed a bit because we had
so much bait in the water. But I expect
they will pick up again this week. The
week before last was outstanding with many striped bass and bluefish blitzes.”
said Mike Wake of Watch Hill Outfitters. Conti of Snug Harbor Mariana said,
“The bass bite is pretty good along the southern shore where they are catching
school size bass and fish to twenty pounds.
And, they are still catching fish at the North Rip at Block Island. We haven’t heard much about the bite on the
southwest corner.”

Offshore. Matt Conti of Snug
Harbor Marina said, “We have a good weather forecast for early in the
week. I have some customers that plan to
fish the Hudson Canyons for yellowfin tuna and swordfish. Customers this week that fished the Mud hole
did not produce.”

Freshwater fishing remains very strong. “I had a customer that caught a great variety
of fish at Echo Pond, Barrington including largemouth bass, trout and pickerel
so fishing is pretty good. I am still
selling quite a few shiners.” said Littlefield of Archie’s Bait. “Trout fishing at the lakes, ponds and rivers
that were stocked by DEM has been very good.” said Neil Hayes of Quaker Lane. Visit www.dem.ri.gov
for a listing of stocked pounds.

I fished with family and friends this past week. And I have to tell you it was great.

It reminded me of what I have always known, but often forget. Sometimes I get caught up in the frenzy to
catch fish when taking people fishing for hire as a charter captain. And somethings, I loose perspective and think
it is all about the fish.

What fishing with my son Geoff, and friends Chuck, Kevin,
Steve, Jim and Rick reminded me of this past week is that sometimes it is not
all about the fish. But rather it is
about the bond that is developed and enhanced between mothers, fathers, sons
and daughters, sisters and brothers, father-in-laws, old and new friends.

Fishing affords you the time to get to know someone. You talk about challengers and dreams, and
sometimes just have plan old fun.

Thank you Geoff and friends for helping me keep a proper perspective
about fishing.

New model helps
determine impact of climate change on fish habitat

A new approach by U.S. Geological Survey scientists to modeling
water temperatures resulted in more realistic predictions of how climate change
will affect fish habitat by taking into account effects of cold groundwater
sources.

The study, recently published in the journal Ecological
Applications, showed that groundwater is highly influential but also highly
variable among streams and will lead to a patchy distribution of suitable fish
habitat under climate change. This new modeling approach used brook
trout, but can be applied to other species that require cold water streams for
survival.

"One thing that has been missing from other models is the
recognition that groundwater moderates the temperature of headwater
streams," said Nathaniel Hitt, a fish biologist and study coauthor.
"Our paper helps to bring the effects of groundwater into climate change
forecasts for fish habitat."

Climate change models predict that summer air temperatures will
increase between 2.7 and 9 degrees Fahrenheit in the eastern United States over
the next 50 to 100 years. Such increases in air temperatures will increase
water temperatures of streams and rivers and pose a significant threat to fish
like brook trout that have low resistance to warming water temperatures.

Brook trout are an important cultural and recreational species
with specific restoration outcomes identified in the new Chesapeake Bay
Agreement.

"Our models help improve the spatial resolution of climate
change forecasts in headwater streams," said Craig Snyder, a USGS research
ecologist and lead author of the study. "This work will assist
conservation and restoration efforts by connecting climate change models to
places that matter for stream fishes."

A workshop on proposed commercial fishing regulations for Rhode Island will be held November 16, 4:30 p.m., followed by a public hearing at 6:00 p.m. at the URI Graduate School of Oceanography, Coastal Institute Building, Hazard Room.

Public comment will be solicited on amendments to "RIMFR - Finfish" including commercial management for summer flounder, bluefish, scup and black sea bass as well as editing changes and proposed amendments to the RIMER- Legislative findings.

Small businesses which are either currently licensed, or in the future may seek a license to harvest, buy, sell, or produce seafood products, as well as the small businesses that provide services related to those engaged in such industries, are requested to comment on the proposed regulations. Comments should focus on how proposed regulations can be changed to minimize the impact on businesses affected.

A copy of the proposed regulations is available for review through November 16, 2015 at the Marine Fisheries offices, or by mail. A copy of the proposed regulation(s) has been filed with the Office of the Secretary of State’s website at http://sos.ri.gov/ProposedRules/. Proposed regulations are also available on DEM’s Website.

Written comments concerning the proposed regulations may be submitted to Peter Duhamel, Division of Fish and Wildlife Marine Fisheries office, 3 Fort Wetherill Road, Jamestown, RI 02835 no later than 12:00 Noon on November 16, 2015.

Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission annual meeting

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) will hold their 74th Annual Meeting November 2‐5, 2015 at the World Golf Village Renaissance Resort in St. Augustine, FL.

Many key issues that will impact recreational anglers in Rhode Island will be discussed and/or determined. Stock assessments, reports and fishery management plan recommendations on species such as tautog, scup, black sea bass and summer flounder are expected. Some species, such as summer flounder and tautog, may have more conservative regulations due to overfishing and/or recent stock assessments.

Striped bass fishing is good along the coastal shore but many
anglers are focusing on other species. “This week we had a school of bass in
the 20 pound range come through the south shore in the Green Hill area and
anglers did well. But it is hit or miss
this time of year as the fish are moving, migrating south. There one day and not the next. The North Rip has been good too. Anglers are using diamond jigs with success
and eels at night or early morning as the bluefish are killing the eels during
the day.” said Matt Conti of Snug Harbor Marina, South Kingstown.

“Black sea bass opened up again in Federal waters (October 22) so
anglers can keep their Rhode Island limit of seven fish.” said Matt Conti of
Snug Harbor Marina. “Black sea bass being open in Federal waters is big, now
anglers targeting cod fish in places like the East Fishing Grounds can keep
some of the sea bass they have been catching when targeting cod.” “Guys are
still targeting black sea bass and are doing good.” said Manny Macedo of Lucky Bait & Tackle,
Warren.

Tautog fishing has been outstanding. Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle,
Providence said, “Customers of Capt. B.J. Silvia, Flippin Out Charters, landed
seven fish that were ten pounds or over in the past two weeks. Fish are in the Bay and off the coast biting
on both Asian and green crabs. Anglers
caught tautog all the way up the Providence River right at the Save the Bay
facility.” I fished off Newport Saturday
with my son Geoff Monti and he had no trouble limiting out with fish to six
pounds. The beauty is that not only are
the tautog plentiful but anglers are picking up a number of black sea bass as a
bonus when tautog fishing. I fished off Newport again Tuesday
with a friend (in 60 feet of water) and we boated only one tautog, did not
check in shore were there were a ton of boats. Capt. Frank Blount of the
Frances Fleet said, “Local tautog fishing has been quite good. Friday and
Saturday were the best days where there were quite a few angler limits with the
largest fish pushing the eight pound mark. Varying numbers of keeper sea bass
are mixed in with a few small cod starting to show both keepers and
shorts.” Manny Macedo of Lucky Bait
said, “You still hear some anglers complain about catching a lot of shorts but
for the most part customers are landing five to eight pound tautog. They are catching them with green crags and
Asian crabs. Jigs are working too.” Matt Conti of Snug Harbor Marina said, “We
sold a record number of crabs. Anglers
are fishing and catching off Narragansett at River Ledge and Brenton Reef,
Newport. Anglers are catching tautog off
Scarborough and at the Pt. Judith Light but the fish are smaller as the larger
ones have been picked over.”

Cod fishing. Frank Blount of
the Frances Fleet said, “The biggest fish last week was twenty pounds with hi
hook scoring five keepers. Sea Bass reopened in federal waters
for Friday and anglers aboard easily attained limits of jumbo sea bass to five
pounds. Mixed in on all the trips have been varying quantities jumbo porgies
and some nice size ocean perch along with an occasional bluefish.”

“Squid fishing is good in the
Jamestown and Newport areas. Anglers are
catching squid at Ft. Wetherill, Ft. Adams and on the Goat Island causeway.”
said Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle. “Squid fishing is great. Some customers are walking out of here with
$50 to $100 of squid jigs. They are
catching them in Newport on the Causeway and Jamestown at the usual places.”
said Manny Macedo of Lucky Bait.

Freshwater fishing for trout is
good, particularly at ponds stocked by DEM in the past two weeks. Visit www.dem.ri.gov for a list of ponds. “Trout at
Carbuncle Pond and at Lincoln Woods are taking PowerBait worms as well as small
and medium shiners.” said Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle.

Steve Brustein caught this cod (about to be filleted)
while tautog fishing off Newport.

Kevin Fetzer of East Greenwich with a black sea bass
caught with a green crab while tautog fishing

Mike Radziszewski’s 57 pound, eight ounce striped bass
that took first place in the Pabst Blue Ribbon Fishing Tournament.

Capt. Joe Pagano of Stuff-It Charters will speak about
taxidermy at a RISAA meeting Monday, October 26 at the West Valley Inn, West
Warwick, RI.

Catch and release… and then mount your fish?

How would you like to stuff a 10’
2” Alaskan Kodiak brown bear, a full size lion attacking a zebra, or better
still recondition a polar bear originally prepared in the 1800’s and build an
iceberg for it to stand on alongside another bear at the Roger Williams Park
Zoo?

This is what Captain Joe Pagano of
Stuff-It Charters has done since high school as a taxidermist along with preparing
a full range of fish mounts… shark, bluefin tuna, striped bass, cat fish, largemouth
bass and much, much more.

Next week Capt. Pagano will be
guest speaker at a Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association Monday, October
26, 7:00 p.m. meeting at the West Valley Inn, West Warwick, RI. And of course, the topic will be taxidermy. Many
of the animals like the panda bear he stuffed came from a zoo where the animal
had passed away and now was being preserved for exhibition.

Capt. Pagano said, “Many anglers
who catch trophy fish now prefer to release the fish after they take a
photograph and measure it and have a fiberglass replica made of the fish.”
Pagano said, "This is usually more expensive as the glass mounts are
sculptured and painted to match the fish in the photo. But the beauty is that the angler has the
satisfaction of releasing the fish back into the water.”

“Taxidermy in the winter and taking
people fishing in the summer is all I have ever done.” Pagano is a noted local charter captain who
fishing in the surf near shore for striped bass with his boat often fishing at
night. He practices catch, tag and release
with many of his customers. And, in 1991, Captain Pagano caught the
second largest fish in the world ever landed by rod and reel. It was a 2,909
pound, 15 1/2-foot long Great White Shark.

The evening starts with an optional
West Valley Inn Dinner from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Non-members are welcome and are asked to
make a $10 contribution to the RISAA Scholarship fund, no charge for RISAA
members. Visit www.risaa.org (calendar) for details.

First place striped bass earns $10,000

The final winners of the Pabst Blue
Ribbon Fishing Tournament received their awards Saturday at a special ceremony
held at the Ocean Mist Restaurant, South Kingstown, RI. This is the tournament’s fourth year with an
expanded time frame and weekly, monthly and overall tournament prizes for
striped bass, bluefish and summer flounder (fluke). Visit www.pbrfishing.com
for details on tournament winners.

Where’s the
bite?

Tautog fishing was outstanding this week. Both shore and boat
anglers have been limiting out. And this
weekend (October 18) the limit increased to six fish/angler/day. However the
ten fish boat limit is still in place (does not apply to charter or party
boats). Again this week I fished off
Newport with great results. In addition
to tautog, the two anglers on board Kevin Fetzer of East Greenwich and Steve
Brustein of West Warwick caught five black sea bass, scup and a cod. Yes, a cod fish while fishing with green
crabs for tautog. In fact a number of
cod fish were caught in shore this week.
Nelson Valles of Maridee Bait & Canvas, Narragansett said, “A few
customers caught cod in shore this weekend, two anglers were fishing Black
Point for tautog and caught cod fish.”
Valles said, “Tautog is being landed off the rocks from shore all along the
Avenues.” “Commercial tautog fishermen
are having no trouble catching their ten fish limit. Tautog fishing is very, very good right now.
Recreational fishermen are doing very well too.” said Tom at Snug Harbor Marina
in South Kingstown. “A customer fishing Coddington Cove Saturday with two
friends caught thirty shorts and nine keepers. And those who fished Conimicut
Light would go through a half gallon of crabs to catch three keepers. However
the bite from shore at the Wharf Tavern and at the bridges in Warren and
Barrington is good. Anglers are catching
keepers, a much improved tautog bite from last week were most were catching
shorts.” said John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle, Riverside.

Black sea bass are still plentiful. Few anglers are targeting, but
rather they are catching them while tautog fishing. Anglers are still catching
sea bass at Colt State park when tautog fishing said John Littlefield of Archie’s
Bait & Tackle.

Cod fishing has been fair.
Capt. Frank Blount of the Frances Fleet said, “We are finding a few cod just about everywhere which is
good - just not in the numbers since before the eight days of gale force winds
in early October. Mixed in with the cod have been some good size porgies and
ocean perch, a few noteworthy fluke including a ten pound fish caught by
customer John Magnuszewski from Newington CT, an occasional sea flounder and a
handful of blue fish. Both jigs and bait did account for keeper cod this past
week.”

Striped bass fishing has slowed.
Nelson Valles of Maridee Bait & Canvas said, “It's hit of miss with
striped bass. If you are fishing from
shore you may as well stay put and wait for a school of bait to come close to
shore.” Fall striped bass are generally
migrating and are on the move. “Many
school size bass are in Salt Pond and anglers are catching them often.” said
Tom of Snug Harbor Marina. Striped bass fishing in the upper Bay has slowed
with some fish being caught in the Mr. Hope area.” said John Littlefield of
Archie’s Bait & Tackle.

About Me

Caption Dave has been fishing and shell fishing in Rhode Island for over 40 years. For fifteen years he held a scallop license on Nantucket where he fished in the winter months. He holds a captain’s master license and a charter fishing license. Read No Fluke and keep your eyes open for Captain Dave, you might catch him fishing on Narragansett Bay or near ocean coastal waters on his 26' Bonito fishing machine, Virginia Joan. There’s more than one way to catch a fish so visit Captain Dave’s website at www.noflukefishing.com and e-mail him your fishing news, photo, comments, questions and thoughts at dmontifish@verizon.net.